Art Chowder January | February, Issue 19 | Page 40

T
he first performance of the
1986-87 season saw two firsts for
Spokane Ballet: 1) it sold out and
2) it made money. Following this,
in addition to regional touring,
was an artistically and (modestly)
financially successful 10-day tour
of Taiwan.
In local reviews of the season
dancers and Aponte’s choreography
were said to “shine.” Having
came to town the Spring 1987
performance, William Como,
editor-in-chief of Dance Magazine,
found Aponte already “a local hero
here” and, anticipating a bright
future for the company, advised
Spokane to come together to help
Aponte realize his “goal of taking
Spokane Ballet … to national,
and eventually, international
1
prominence.”
TROUBLE IN RIVER CITY
Less than a month after the first
season’s triumph the Spokesman-
Review had troubling news:
“Spokane Ballet tiptoes through
2
turmoil.” Three dancers quit.
Costs were mounting. Revenue
was uncertain. The director of the
Spokane Ballet School resigned.
Explaining her departure, Margaret
(Peggy) Goodner cited Aponte’s
“temper tantrums,” “outbursts of
anger” in front of students and
parents, and “scenes” in the studio
that she found inconsistent with the
environment needed for the nurture
and training of young students.
Goodner opened her own school.
Students and parents followed.
The Spokane Ballet School,
which reportedly boasted some
200 students and $80,000 annual
revenue, never recovered.
40
ART CHOWDER MAGAZINE
Aponte Arrives Photos from the flier announcing
Spokane Ballet’s 1986-87 season
All photos: Don Hamilton
It seems obvious in retrospect that the company needed its own school to bring up a new
generation of dancers, but it also served the ballet school by providing an outstanding
performance venue for its students to aspire to. Failure of the parties to recognize the
mutual benefit of working things out together ultimately affected the future of the
organization and may have contributed to the state of fragmentation among Spokane’s
dance studios today.
Whether a plan of reconciliation between the artistic director and the school could have
been worked out is an open question. After the board had a conversation with Aponte,
its president Diane Kane said she didn’t think the problem would be repeated and put his
behavior down to “frustration,” citing the small company’s financial constraints and his
lack of experience as an artistic director. “The board took a risk and he took a risk … we
took him off the dance floor and hired him as a choreographer.”
That was only part of it.
No one denied Aponte’s exceptional talent. Dance Magazine critic Iris Fanger went so
far as to opine, “There is Baryshnikov, there is Christopher, there are two or three others
– and then there are all the rest.” 3 To those around him, though, this “street kid from
Spanish Harlem” could be described as crazy, arrogant, brutal — an emotional Vesuvius.
An incident related to me by a witness illustrates this explosive energy. Responding to
some infraction by a boy in the studio, Aponte proceeded to berate him, shaking his finger
fiercely, while balancing a girl in the air with his other hand!